[tekla]

Its amazing how different the culture is. I don't even think twice about carrying garbage on me, but when I recommend Americans to just carry their garbage until they can toss it, I might as well have insulted their mother.

Apparently the view is that if society wanted them to keep the earth clean, they would have set out more garbage cans.

[dcrazy]

The interior of food packaging is often soiled by the food it previously contained. I don’t want to transfer that soil to my pocket or my backpack.

[johnnyanmac]

Ehh. Unless you're eating a melted candy bar, you probably accumulate more dirt and sweat going through your day than whatever few crumbs leak into your pockets.

[mitthrowaway2]

Japanese ice cream bars are really good though. As are mitarashi dango. It's a tough choice. You basically have to carry a sealable bag with you.

[dcrazy]

Dirt is way easier to clean than mayonnaise, chocolate, bananas, or anything with a red sauce.

[johnnyanmac]

You eat some interesting things on the go. Even then, chocolate is the only thing I worry about on that list. Thoroughly eat the sauces and I'm not worried about those packets or a banana peel in my pocket. I'm not manually washing my clothes anyway.

[dcrazy]

Mayonnaise isn’t exactly an exotic ingredient. In fact, Kewpie mayonnaise is something of a Japanese cultural icon. You would expect to find it on or inside of sandwiches and other foods typically taken to go.

Bananas are a fantastic on the go snack because they are self-portioned and give you plenty of sugar that your body can readily metabolize for continuing to walk around the city.

And of course, chocolate is delicious.

[johnnyanmac]

It's not that it's exotic. I just figure If I'm carrying sauce packets they are either sealed or opened and used. I'm not worried about any empty packets messing up my pockets significantly.

[theultdev]

It's not a culture thing. They had trash cans. Until the sarin attacks.

Now people in Japan just put their trash in the streets. It piles up and early in the morning everything is cleaned.

[mitthrowaway2]

They don't put their trash in the streets except for garbage pickup day. That's not related to the removal of public garbage cans (which, yes, was a reaction to the sarin gas attacks). It's more of a substitute for dumpsters.